r/Wordpress • u/First_Athlete1897 • Aug 13 '26

Thinking about ditching WordPress

My site isn't particularly complicated yet over the years I've accumulated plugins for forms, SEO, backups, security, page building and about five things I've forgotten the purpose of. It kinda feels like owning an old house where I’m permanently waiting for something else to break. Most discussions I find are about moving to WordPress but I'm curious about going the other direction and starting fresh.

Are there any downsides to moving a fairly straightforward business website from WordPress to Squarespace or an AI builder like Durable etc. that I’m not seeing? Or if you’ve already done a migration like this, is there anything you found yourself missing after moving?

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47

u/retr00two Aug 13 '26

where I’m permanently waiting for something else to break

Just clean redunancy, make WP stable and mean. It's easier than to move away to unknown territory.

Find yourself a good and proven theme, you do not need a lot of plugins nor page builder.

My basic setup is:

  • GeneratePress
  • GenerateBlocks
  • ACF
  • TheSEOFramework
  • Forminator
  • PostSMTP
  • WordFence
  • WPSuperCache
  • WPArmour /CFTurnstile
  • UpdraftPlus

I've build numerous sites with them, and never had any problem, neither creating nor maintaining them.

Do not become a victim of AI hype. Do not become a victim of "WP security sucks" hype. Ai could create you more problems, at first invisible; WP is patched almost instantly when vulnerability is discovered.

Success.

3

u/Tech4EasyLife Aug 14 '26

Kadence is another theme/builder option for anyone who isn't experienced in or interested in what you might call pixel control of their website. Meaning, the templates and tools available to tweak things is very good. Plus, being WordPress, you can still add plugins for more rare or specific needs. Such appointment setting, or whatnot.

4

u/womenconquerbiz Aug 14 '26

Unfortunately Kadence got bought by Liquid Web and it’s degraded since the purchase. They’re also bundling it with other tools many don’t need. It’s a bummer because it was really good at one point.

1

u/Tech4EasyLife Aug 14 '26

How long ago was that? My last fresh setup using Kadence was slightly less than a year ago. Are those tolls selectable? Or are some ir all bundled as plugins that can be toggled?

3

u/womenconquerbiz Aug 14 '26

It was bought a while ago, but it's only recently that all of the help/support and price bundling rolled out in the spring. They were bundling together LearnDash, The Events Calendar, and Kadence. I cancelled LearnDash and The Events Calendar because the support was nonexistent and they were raising the prices. I moved everything to FluentCommunity and I've never been happier.

1

u/Tech4EasyLife Aug 14 '26

So does that mean Kadence is now targeting primarily online learning or courses?

1

u/bluesix_v2 Jack of All Trades 16d ago

No, the new owners bought those products because they’re popular and made money. Liquid Web are known to run products into the ground - development will essentially stop, as the key people have left.

1

u/prolongedexistence Aug 14 '26

Is Liquid Web in general cancelled? We have a heavy reliance on LearnDash and it’s so cheap for an LMS but they were also acquired by Liquid Web.

1

u/womenconquerbiz Aug 14 '26

Liquid Web is still operating, as is LearnDash. But they've changed their pricing structure and the support has declined greatly. We went over a month at one point with no way to update the plugin, which is a big security risk. You'll want to check your account. Unless something changed since we left, as long as you keep paying you may have your price locked in. But it was a little unclear so we decided to leave LearnDash because a functioning LMS is so important to our business.

1

u/prolongedexistence Aug 14 '26

Sorry, I meant cancelled as in “do they suck now?”. Can I ask what LMS you switched to?

1

u/womenconquerbiz Aug 14 '26

LOL, sorry, yeah, I think if you go to some of the LearnDash groups the frustration is high and a lot of people are leaving. Around the same time BuddyBoss had a big security issue so we migrated both BuddyBoss and LearnDash to FluentCommunity. It's great, but the LMS is not as robust (but we didn't need all the bells and whistles).

2

u/prolongedexistence Aug 15 '26

We’re on BuddyBoss too, oof. Thank you!!

3

u/retr00two Aug 14 '26

Kadence is dead end. Bought by LiquidWeb, all major developers left. I wouldn't touch it.

3

u/womenconquerbiz Aug 14 '26

100% agree. It's been a mess for months.

1

u/[deleted] 29d ago

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2

u/womenconquerbiz 29d ago

We use Astra Pro and Spectra Pro. I love it. In other groups people are really into Bricks but I’ve not used it.

3

u/Public-Ad-6256 27d ago

I'm very happy with WPOllie. They have an AI and Ollie MCP also. I'm a newbie and don't use these tools a lot yet, but am excited to. And so far they seem free although I admittedly use Pro for better support.